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Everything posted by The Latin Scot

Well, it looks like our time together is drawing to its close ...
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/new-program-children-youth?cid=HP_TU-8-5-2018_dPAD_fMNWS_xLIDyL1-B_
And the joint statement from the Church and BSA: https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/multimedia/file/bsa-joint-statement-may-8.pdf

How can a few people chatting online "establish" what was ultimately behind the BSA's decision? Alas, we can hypothesize all we want, but we don't really know what went behind the move.
All I know is that I am against it, and will leave the program with the Church next year.
Do I believe in Scouting? Yes, with all my heart yes.
Do I believe that the Boy Scouts of America still delivers the quality of Scouting and the purity of the program that it once did?
No. I don't believe it does anymore. And I can't invest my time in an organization that has lost the vision of its original programming. It breaks my heart, but I have principles that the BSA is moving away from, and my principles come before my passions.

The only real requirement to be a SPL is: you are a registered Scout in good standing, and the boys elect you. Bam. If the boys pick a kid, that's their choice. He may be 11, he may be a Tenderfoot, he may have awful attendance - makes no difference. The boys pick who they pick, and soon enough they will learn what makes a good leader or not. And they can always oust a leader and choose a new one whenever they feel a change is needed!
The most important thing is to trust the boys and not interfere. Let them handle it on their own; after all, it's their troop!

I am afraid this is not an accurate understanding of our relationship with the BSA. We did not adopt Scouting as a matter of convenience; in fact, implementing it took a great deal of effort, and meant cancelling a youth program we already had in place.
The need for a unified global program is only one part of the reason for our exit. The other very much is the fact that the BSA is making a broad statement with its recent policy changes - the statement that boys and girls learn in the same way, and that one program can adequately meet the needs of both with no need to differentiate between the sexes. This fundamental ideology, that boys and girls should just share the same program, is a complete turn-around from the roots of Scouting, which was a program specifically tailored to the needs of boys. It also goes against what we believe in the Church - that men and women are fundamentally different, that both serve complimentary but distinct roles in the family and in society, and that our gender is an eternal part of our divine identity. The new BSA ideology no longer matches those beliefs, and so it would be inappropriate for the Church to be associated with a program that now has a distinctly different worldview.
This is not a matter of convenience. It's a matter of principle. We can still support and serve and encourage one another's growth, but we cannot share the same ties that we could when our core beliefs were the same. Had the BSA stuck to its original values, there would not have been such a need for us to take a stand like this.

It's all a matter of being gracious and tactful. If you are again nominated for an award that you should only have received once, there's nothing wrong with informing the powers that be that you have already received the honor, and that you would rather not break rules to receive it again. Certainly nobody could fault you for pointing it out; it would be an honorable thing to do. After all, we aren't here for the awards (I should hope).
Should they bestow the honor upon you anyway, even after said declination, simply receive it graciously. Make no fuss of it; modesty is always more becoming and more mature than gratuitously turning it into a big deal. But certainly do not wear two of the same knot on your uniform - not only would that be a tasteless flaunting of a double-bestowal, but it goes against uniform policy as well. One never wears two knots for the same award; that's what devices are for, and if there are no devices that fit the situation, it won't matter anyway. A good Scouter never seeks recognition, and certainly won't mind whether or not people know about all the honors he has received, because that's not what he is there for.

After hearing the swirl of rumors, I found this!
http://www.texastrailsbsa.com/openrosters/ViewOrgPageLink.aspx?orgkey=2998&itemkey=14780
I have to say, I do understand the majority of these uniform changes, even if I don't like them all (I have always been resistant to change). I have always wondered about the aqua color being used for Bears; light blue is much simpler. But making the switch out to the tan/olive uniform for ALL Webelos is annoying, and for some, expensive. I understand the cunning behind it - get the boys in the uniform early, and there is a far better chance they'll continue on to Boy Scouts since they own the uniform already. But still, it's kind of frustrating. I won't require it of my families for a couple of years at least. But I will miss the diamond blue patch!

That's $0.04! Already I've earned almost a whole nickle off this thread.
Both of the above are good points though; I am just going to recycle all the used stuff I can for the next 18 months. And I just realized @ValleyBoy's point this morning - any Webelos Scout who wants to stick to the blue uniform can easily just say he's wearing an authentic vintage uniform and he will remain correctly dressed. Problem solved!

It seems they are looking to sell out all the yellow stock before putting out the red materials. Same with the new light blue Bear rank patches and all the other cosmetic uniform changes in Cub Scouting.

Well, that's one reason I wouldn't wait till the end of the year to award ranks. As soon as a boy can get the requirements done, he should get his rank - in my program in fact, we don't follow school calendars at all. When a boy turns 10 he joins my Webelos group, and he is with me for a year till he turns 11. We don't take summer breaks, and we don't have a "start" or "end" to the program year. It's ongoing, and boys earn their ranks as they complete the adventures/other requirements for them. Obviously it means careful planning and juggling of activities, but it sure is nice not to be beholden to the schools for scheduling and planning activities and rank advancement. In fact, summer is when I see the highest rates of advancement and progress, since we don't have school activities conflicting with our program.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Haha. Well in that case, maybe my families can get by without having to worry about the changes after all! I just gotta stock up on the blue patches so that I have enough for any boys who stay in the blue uniform up till the end of next year.

In my council uniforms are worn to everything. I was especially impressed by how well uniformed our district was during the entirety of Camporee weekend and Scout-O-Rama this past month. I gotta say, uniforms are being worn much more often and more correctly than when I was a Scout in this area growing up. So yeah - lots of people are still wearing the uniform on their activities. I guess just not where you live.

Well, there had been a number of similar organizations appearing all over the country in the years prior to the BSA's founding - the Woodcraft Indians, Sons of Daniel Boone, etc. The Boy Scouts of America simply conglomerated the majority of them into one organization, giving it an immediately large starting population already. Such groups had been making headlines too with the success they had been having and the good it was doing for boys across the nation, so by the time Eldred was ready for the first Board of Review, Scouting was already square in the public eye.